[Earw0rm]

Have you got some sources for that? Thermal forcing from existing plants (and thermal sink from their energy output) seems like it'd be tiny compared to solar thermal forcing.

I realise GHG from their waste gases is a huge problem, but direct thermal forcing?

[XorNot]

I don't know how this constantly comes up on HN but I have seen it mentioned across every type of energy thread.

And people could trivially disprove the notion in mere seconds by Googling the solar irradiance of the sun over the Earth, but for some reason they never do before posting.

[Earw0rm]

Not all irradiance translates into heat, but even if it's only a few W/m2, that's megawatts per sq km, and terawatts for a France sized area.